3 more Units for Intelligence Bureau

Chennai:Three more units of the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau CID have been formed in the State and declared police stations as per law.Each headed by an Inspector, they are at Sivaganga, Kanyakumari and Kancheepuram. While the Sivaganga unit will have under its jurisdiction Sivaganga and Pudukottai districts, the one at Kancheepuram will have control over Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. The Kanyakumari unit will look after Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts.

With this, there are 15 NIB CID units in the State. The setting up of additional units will result in better enforcement, according to a senior State police officer.With the sowing season for ganja to begin in the last week of June, the special unit has alerted its personnel in Theni district, where a major portion of the illegal crop is raised in the interior areas of reserve forests. Despite the vigil, cultivators manage to raise ganja. However, the authorities hope that intensive efforts of the police along with Forest Department officials will bring in the desired results.

The police point out that cultivation of ganja involves some expertise and not all can take it up. It takes six to eight months for the plants to grow fully. Such a long duration cannot escape the attention of officials.The police are planning to hold a State-wide public awareness camp in association with non-governmental organisations.Last year, the authorities destroyed 86,650 kg of green ganja. Till May-end this year, 73,504 kg was destroyed. Similarly, 1,185 kg dry ganja (plants cut, dried and stored), which could be stored for long, was seized in the last five months in the State compared to 2,515 kg last year.

In a major seizure, the NIB CID on Monday seized 1.75 kg of hashish oil, prepared from ganja, from Triplicane here and arrested Selvam (45) of Varusanadu and Mayapandi (29) of Keeripatti. Selvam had come to adverse notice in the past and the police were searching for him.